


Bloom and Full Flower

by agapi42 (ddefenestrate)



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Hackle Summer Trope Challenge, Inconsequential fluff, answers on a postcard please, is it still a road trip if they never actually use a road?, just Hackle being cute together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 14:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19465549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddefenestrate/pseuds/agapi42
Summary: Hecate and Ada travel in search for a very special flower.





	Bloom and Full Flower

The magic woke her. Not one of the school’s alert spells, something much further away: the carefully crafted magic they had cast out into the world seeking and finding its target.

Ada turned towards her, her face hard to see in the darkness but excitement clear in her voice. “Can you feel it?”

“Yes.” Hecate sat up and concentrated on the feeling, the link towards their prize. It felt quiet, early, like the opening notes of a song. “I don’t think it’s bloomed yet. It might be a while.”

The mattress shifted as Ada got up, snapping her fingers to dress herself. “No time like the present.”

“If only you took that attitude to your paperwork,” Hecate said and took the hand Ada held out to her. She agreed. They couldn’t stay still when this was out there, gathering.

They hurried through the corridors together, Hecate mentally running through the contents of the packed suitcases waiting in vanishment for just this occasion. It wasn’t until Ada opened the side door letting in the night air that Hecate realised she’d forgotten to change out of her night clothes. The smirk Ada flashed back over her shoulder said she’d been well aware.

“Were you planning on telling me at any point?”

“A witch with your keen observational skills, I was sure it wouldn’t take long.”

Hecate clicked her tongue disapprovingly but couldn’t help smiling as, now properly attired, she followed Ada to collect their brooms.

The birds were just beginning to sing as they rose above the empty castle.

* * *

Perfect technique dictated that witches rode brooms sidesaddle, steering with their dominant arm with their legs the other side. Perfect technique did not suggest that witches fly so close together that there was scarcely a broomwidth between their knees but Hecate was perfectly happy with the arrangement.

“I scry with my little eye, something beginning with s.”

“Spy, Ada.”

“Wrong.”

“No, it’s ‘I spy’.”

“How do you know that?”

“You aren’t the only one who spent time in Mildred Hubble’s vicinity. The game is ‘I spy’.”

“Ah,” Ada began and Hecate could hear the twinkle even as she faced the horizon, “but I wasn’t playing ‘I spy’. I was going to say, I scry success.”

“Really,” Hecate said.

“Really.” Ada nodded.

“Because I spy a warning buoy.”

Ada squinted into the distance and sighed. “That doesn’t begin with s.”

* * *

The warning buoy was red, signifying it was dangerous to use magic in the affected area. These areas were rare but not unknown: most dated from antiquity. Facing a swathe of land impassable by magic, they had no choice but to land and make their way on foot. As they walked the magic tugging at them seemed to swing wildly, a compass needle pulled by another magnet, validating the buoy’s warning.

“We'll find our bearings when we’re out of this,” Ada said, and Hecate agreed. They kept moving in what seemed to be the same direction they had been flying in. There was no rush. It could be days yet.

They picked their way across uneven ground, the turf springy underfoot with hidden rabbit warrens sprawling beneath them. Hecate stooped to take cuttings of the local flora that Ada tucked in her pockets: it would be interesting to see what effect growing in such a skewed area had upon common plants. Ada pointed out birds, her face alight, and explained their most fascinating characteristics. Though Hecate’s personal interest in non-magical birds extended no further than ‘things with wings', she would happily listen to Ada expound upon the subject for hours, her excited enthusiasm causing a particular warmth in Hecate's chest and distracting her from the nagging unease of her magical senses.

Walking into the area, she had felt a gradual change. Stepping out of it was instant, the relief of moving from the oppressive heat of an overly warm day into the cool stone corridors of the castle.

“Oh, that’s better,” Ada said. 

“Quite.”

“Back on the brooms?”

Hecate nodded. “You can get a closer look at those pied flycatchers.”

Of course she paid attention. Of course, when she knew it delighted Ada so.

* * *

They flew out over the sea for a while then the magic looped them back to the coast. The trail seemed to end there, the magic surrounding rather than directing them.

“I suppose we could stay here for a few days,” Ada said. “I think it should focus at the right time.”

Hecate looked around at the picturesque cottages, the stretch of beach, the green cliffs. “If I didn’t know better, I'd suspect you engineered this.”

“The plant seems to share my taste in locations.” Ada beamed. “Shall we explore?”

* * *

Hecate didn’t much like unstructured time and having nothing to plan around. Fortunately, Ada excelled at filling time and they built a kind of routine. They took a room in a bed-and-breakfast establishment which provided both at an enjoyable standard. Their mornings were spent wandering the village and nearby countryside looking for a spike in the magic, which stayed stubbornly uniform and dispersed. At lunchtime Hecate took a table in the coffee shop, making notes on her research, while Ada enjoyed the vintage shop two doors down (on one occasion presenting Hecate with a rather lovely glass bottle for her potions) before they ate. The afternoons they spent on the beach.

Four days passed before, on their way back from dinner and all of a sudden, the magic sharpened.

“Lead the way,” Ada said, smiling, and they changed direction, walking out across the clifftop hand-in-hand.

Invisible to non-magical people, for them the blooming plant was easy to spot at a distance, glowing in the darkness.

They walked steadily towards it. Once they reached it, Ada squeezed Hecate's hand and stepped back. 

This was it. Crafting the location spell, the long wait, the journey, all to end up here. In front of her was one of the rarest wild plants in the country, exceptionally powerful in beneficial spells, which so far had defied all attempts to cultivate it.

Hecate sank to her knees beside it. “I've enjoyed our holiday.”

“Me too.”

She knew Ada understood: whatever happened here, their time had not been wasted. 

Reaching out, Hecate ran a finger up then down the flower's stem. The petals opened, releasing a golden cloud of pollen carried away on the breeze. Quickly she pinched through the base of the stem, just as the glow began to fade. It held. One, two, three. Still holding. 

“Oh, well _done_ , Hecate!”

Hecate got to her feet. Ada held out her arms and Hecate stepped into her embrace, careful not to squash the precious flower.

Pulling back, Ada asked, “Any plans for it?”

Darling Ada. She had been there for the whole project, bringing her food as she researched, helping her craft and cast the spell, travelling alongside her and staying by her side. Only now did she think to ask after an end goal, something beyond “make Hecate happy".

Hecate gazed at her, so beautiful in the luminescence. “Some.” No point in ruining the surprise. 

Ada smiled softly. “I look forward to it.”


End file.
